University officials have long been citing their economic importance as grounds for their support. Some critics have noted that this reduces departments like art and philosophy to irrelevance, but they have been largely muted. Well, now the other shoe may be dropping. "The study found that more state funding to higher education doesn't necessarily lead to higher growth, and in fact correlates negatively with high growth rates." The argument for the arts and philosophy remains unchanged: knowledge is of intrinsic worth to society. As for those institutions that placed the demands of knowledge second to the dictates of the economy? Live by the sword...